PART ONE OF THREE

Guess who’s back! (I still haven’t given up on myself.)

Before I joined my present agency, I did a couple of internships, during the which I have had the opportunity to pick the brains of some of some amazing people in the industry. The lessons I learnt from them have been elemental in shaping my thoughts. Through this post I wanted to share my experience and also say A BIG THANK YOU to them for helping me out. But as I started writing, I realised it was too much to fit into one post. So here’s part one of three.

My very first agency experience was with The Links Saltmangotree, Kochi. A cozy agency with a highly talented and lovely team. There I met Vinu V Krishna, the Creative Director and Senior Copy Writer.

Vinu, with his clever sense of wit and a no-nonsense attitude was the perfect ad-man. Whenever he spoke, I could sense his depth of knowledge about the trade. This made me trust his conviction. I began to rely on his feedback and opinion about my work to evaluate myself. He had set the benchmark high. It took me a while to get a grip on it. And by the time I did, my term at Saltmangotree had come to an end.

But Vinu was kind enough to help me out even after I left the agency. He spoke to me about his experiences. He was extremely honest about the brutal world of advertising so that I knew what I was getting myself into. He introduced me to “Buyology” by Martin Lindstrom and “Start with why” by Simon Sinek; two books that never fail to inspire me no matter how many times I read them. He taught me to to bold. He taught me to be loud in order to be heard. And above everything, Vinu taught me how to identify the fakes. the show offs and the wanna-bes in the industry. The ones who deliver a verbal diarrhoea at every meeting at the end of which everyone in the room feels empty and confused.

An essential quality that every young advertising professional must possess is how to differentiate between substance and crap. Anyone can use big words to explain a concept or strategy. But very few understand what the real problem is. And fewer have a real solution.

In our jobs what we are dealing with is much more than a single piece of artwork or how big the logo looks or the readability of the font. We are dealing with a strategic piece if communication. We are trying to solve our client’s business issue. Thank you Vinuji for getting me started off on the right foot.